Galerie
Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman is proud to invite you to its tenth solo
exhibition by Florin Kompatscher. The title to his first show at our
Vienna branch the artist has chosen in memoriam of his friend, the East
Tyrolean artist Norbert Brunner-Lienz (1959–2014). This reminiscence
moreover makes clear what a fruitful source of inspiration literature
has been for Kompatscher’s art, which, being closely related to the art
of language, comes to life only inside another, in the sense of
something turned inside out.
schleie farbe
lief are the first words of a powerfully eloquent text composed by
Brunner-Lienz for Kompatscher in 1988, entitled von der dreieinigkeit
der farbe und, daß rot kein zufall ist! (lit. On the trinity of colour
and that red is no accident). Although Kompatscher’s art has been in
constant flux for more than three decades, these lines are still as
pertinent today as they were twenty-seven years ago: rhythmically
arrhythmic, flowingly halting, gentle and hard, ephemerally durable,
haptically ungraspable. On the one hand bearing concrete reference to
his art, on the other dancing around it, and deliberately leaving gaps,
Brunner-Lienz’ words reflect in a unique manner the magic effect that
Kompatscher’s pictures have on the observer. So read the text by
Brunner-Lienz, allow it space to reverberate, and bank on being prepared
for what happens when you intentionally let yourself in for
Kompatscher’s
painting. His pictures bespeak the borders of
rational conceivability, and with their incredible wealth of
associations speak to our subconscious. What they ask of us is to enter
into a direct dialogue with the work of art and to experience it on its
own terms, at the risk of sooner or later succumbing to its magic.
Kompatscher’s
varied oeuvre bears testimony to the artist’s comprehensive knowledge,
as far as both composition and technique are concerned, and his
practical mastery of the highest level. His painting is not about
creating mimetic likenesses. Much rather, it is the result of a
painstaking confrontation of the artist with the medium as such, the
elementary questions of which, in combination with a palpable
authenticity, are in the process poured into pure painting, painting as
matter coming in manifold aggregation states. Kompatscher’s pictures
waver between consciousness and subconsciousness in the observer’s mind
and present precise shapes amidst spherical colour combinations in a
dynamic duality of plane and space. The juxtaposition of supposedly
contrary things in a sort of floating balance also holds up a candid
mirror to our life in a digitalised and computerised society.
Kompatscher adapts our visual world, as an aspect of this reality, by
frequently painting “analogously” with “digital” support. The open
painting process is the principal concept of his painting practice. Just
as there is constant change in nature, this practice has been in
constant flux since its very beginnings.
Florin
Kompatscher, born in Bolzano (Italy) in 1960, in the years from 1981 to
1986 studied with Carl Unger and Adolf Frohner at the University of
Applied Art in Vienna. Ever since, he has had numerous international
exhibitions, that have caused a lasting echo in the media not least due
to many a catchy title: Trip de Roche (Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus
Thoman, Innsbruck 2012), Der Himmel hatte Fieber (Kunstverein
Offenburg-Mittelbaden 2012), Wake Up Before You Go Purple (Galerie
Andreas Binder, Munich 2010), Die Scherbe des Himmels (Galerie
Strickner, Vienna 2010), My Brain is on an Elevator
(Galerie Eva
Bracke, Berlin 2009), Der scharfe Rand der Erde (Galerie Elisabeth &
Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck 2008), Purple & Asphalt (Forum Kunst,
Rottweil 2007), Alles Andere is wahr (Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum,
Innsbruck 2006), Die Lange Heimat (Kunstverein Heilbronn 2006), or
dumdidldauda (kjubh Kunstverein, Cologne 2002), to mention but a few.
After spending several years abroad (in Italy, Spain and France),
Kompatscher moved to Berlin where he has been living together with his
partner Maria Brunner since 2003.
